


The Space Between

by AntigravityDevice



Series: A Lightless Deep And A Starry Space [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-10-11
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntigravityDevice/pseuds/AntigravityDevice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cortez reflects on where he is and where he’s headed. Sequel to Close Spaces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Space Between

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you once again to my lovely beta, junemermaid.

"Hey," James said, and rapped him on the shoulder on his way to the weapon bench. "Get your bird prepped, Esteban, we’re flyin’ in ten."

Steve closed the requisition logs without looking. “We’re not en route to the Citadel?”

For once, there was nothing preening about the way James peeled off his shirt and kicked gear around, trying to find a new one. His new tattoo stood out, edges red. It looked like it had pulled his skin tight to the point of tearing, but that was just the knots and bundles of muscle underneath. Steve watched them move for a moment before wrenching his eyes away.

"Gonna pick up some salarians on our way there." James pulled on his armor the same way he pulled on his shirt, like it weighed nothing and should stick to him as close as possible. "Got themselves stranded on a moon crawlin’ with Reaper forces. Lola’s sent you the coordinates."

Steve’s omni-tool blinked alight. Oh, so she had. He had been too focused on the logs to notice. The Kodiak was fine; he had just finished checking the dampeners, so he lingered, helpfully handing James his newly cleaned and checked rifle from the table. He got a wide smile and a tug closer in return.

James held him like a gun. If it had been anyone else, it wouldn’t have made Steve feel appreciated.

"I know what that grin suggests, Mr. Vega, and there’s no way we can accomplish it in eight minutes," he said, but pressed close anyway, thigh against armored thigh.

James tried to look nonchalant. “ _Ya lo sé_.” His cold, armored hand cupped the back of Steve’s head and brought him in for a kiss. He tasted metallic; he’d been chewing his lips rough again. As if he wasn’t scarred enough.

It was a very nice kiss, though. Steve didn’t think there was such a thing as a good or bad kisser, really; it was all about the mutual desire and effort. Both appeared to be there in spades now. He felt a jolt in his cock pull him towards James, and he tensed to stop his hips from moving. It was very tempting to turn the kiss from lazy and warm to focused.

He stepped back with regret, eyeing the door. “Later.”

An armored fist bumped his upper arm. He saw James lick his lower lip, bring the taste of him into his mouth. “Hold you to that.”

They’d probably end up in the closest maintenance closet the minute they were back onboard. God. Steve took a moment to collect himself before getting into the Kodiak. He ran his palm over his face. He’d never thought he’d do maintenance closets again. Sometimes he still tried to kick his usually so impeccable sense of duty back into gear. Their stolen moments were only secret to a certain extent, with an AI keeping an eye on everything onboard. Steve had been with the Alliance long enough to know that whatever happened ship-side eventually became ship-wide information. It didn’t help that James was very loud once you got him going, and there was a limited number of solutions Steve could come up with for that.

On the other hand, James was more than pleased; he was _excited_ by damn near anything Steve suggested. Steve couldn’t help but feel flattered. James had that hard-earned and gorgeous body that he flaunted any chance he got, and he spoke mostly Spanish when he was turned on, and he fucked like he’d invented quick and rough sex. It wasn’t that Steve felt inadequate in any way. It had simply been a long time since he had considered himself to be on the dating market, and it was strange to discover this part of himself again, the part that liked making someone’s eyes grow dim with want and body tense in anticipation.

The part that didn’t mind discovering new ways to fit into maintenance closets.

They hadn’t set any particular boundaries. James still flirted with anything that walked his way, and neither of them felt compelled to bring it up. He bought people drinks in Purgatory with credits he didn’t have just to put a smile on a pretty face. Sometimes he came back from shore leave with bruises, sometimes with lipstick marks. Steve pointed out both with the same amount of teasing. At first it had made James flustered, until he realized it was fine and he could relax. Steve had to admit that seeing the guilty stammering fade into a grateful, relieved smile was goddamn adorable. The next time James had come back from shore leave with both bruises and lipstick marks, drunk and horny, and his sloppy kisses had burnt like cheap asari liquor.

They didn’t talk about other people, but once or twice Steve had tried to coax out James’s history with men, because he found himself curious. He knew James’s taste in women, after all, and it was far more expansive, that much was obvious. From the grunts and shrugs and mumblings Steve pieced together that what happened on the bootcamp stayed on the bootcamp, and since then there had been some kind of an arrangement with another marine that James didn’t want to talk about. He sensed unresolved guilt there. Using someone with a crush for quick relief between missions, maybe? It would explain why James had been so hesitant to start things off with him.

Not that Steve had been in any particular hurry himself. He was still very much on the rebound - and he hated the word, because nothing in him bounced at the thought of Robert being gone. If anything, it made him freeze in horrible helplessness. He had prodded at the wounds loss had left on him, and found he didn’t feel like he was cheating on a memory. James was _nothing_ like Robert, which was wonderful, and what they had was nothing like his and Robert’s careful and awkward dating had been. He kept his memories tucked safe in the back of his mind. Robert had wanted him to move on with his life. For now, that involved enthusiastically fucking his friend between attempts to save the galaxy from the Reapers. It was what he wanted, and it felt empowering to be in touch with that part of himself. They’d all told him not to bury himself in work - Robert, Shepard, James. He was finally hearing them.

"Hey." James’s favorite turn of phrase. He waved a hand over Steve’s face, and although he smiled, worry was creeping into his eyes. "Esteban? We flyin’ or what?"

Steve jumped into action, following him to the Kodiak. “We flyin’,” he reassured him, and touched his shoulder before opening the door and climbing inside. “Never doubt that, Mr. Vega.”

He could tell James wanted to say something, but the commander and Javik were already there, and all he did was nod, brimming with restrained impulse.

There’d be a later, for whatever it was that bubbled under the surface.


End file.
